The Last Temptation of Krust

Jay Leno, Bruce Baum, Janeane Garofalo, Bobcat Goldthwait, Hank Williams, Jr. and Steven Wright as themselves

"The Last Temptation of Krust" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' ninth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 22, 1998. It was written by Donick Cary and directed by Mike B. Anderson. Comedian Jay Leno makes a guest appearance. In the episode, Bart convinces Krusty the Clown to appear at a comedy festival organized by Jay Leno, but Krusty's old material does not go over well with the audience and he receives bad reviews. He briefly retires from comedy but returns with a new, more well received gimmick. He soon returns to his old ways, selling out to a motor-vehicle company.

The production team's decision to write an episode about stand-up comedy was influenced by comedy festivals. The writing staff initially had trouble getting Krusty's offensive bad jokes through network censors, but convinced them this was simply a way to emphasize his old and dated comedic material. The "Canyonero" sequence was modeled after Ford commercials and was given its own segment at the end of the episode because the production staff liked it so much. The episode was highlighted by USA Today in a review of The Simpsons' ninth season and received positive reviews in The Washington Times, the Evening Herald, and in books on The Simpsons.